Chapter 5: Examining Pds Partnerships with Survey Items: Assessing Perception of Fidelity of Implementation Using the NCATE PDS Standards

As noted in the chapters throughout this book, our approach to clinical teacher education with the sites in our urban network was guided by the NCATE professional development school standards (NCATE, 2001). As we considered how to know if our university/public school collaboration was effective, we realized it would be important to understand the extent to which teachers working within our school sites perceived the PDS standards as being present in our implementation. To help accomplish this goal, we created a fidelity survey with close-ended items to assess the degree of implementation of each standard as part of our evaluation of our PDS network. We administered our survey each year for four years, thus providing a longitudinal view of the implementation of PDS standards across the evolution of our partnership.